Today I begin with a guest blogger . . . my beloved Jay! I want to start featuring a lay apostle as a guest blogger weekly. And now, here's Jay:
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
In Anne a lay apostle's book Whispers From the Cross, she provides an excellent visual showing us our need for Christ is at our core:
Disney makes millions of dollars a year reminding people to
believe in their dreams . . . to never lose hope . . . and the impossible is
possible. Have you lost the ability to dream? If yes, when was it? When you
decided you were an adult? Didn’t our Lord remind us to remain childlike our entire
lives? In order to be in constant communication with Christ, doesn’t it require
a childlike belief our Father has an eye on us at all times . . . and He is
looking out for our best interest? He wants us to experience the most benevolent outcomes in
life and we can have them if we just believe . . . if we just trust. Trust we can do all things thru Him. A
trust which believes if we do our part (use our gifts and talents to the best
of our ability regardless of how large or small that contribution may be), He will see to it the rest gets put
into place. If we trust in Him, knowing it is His Will, then we can allow it to
occur in His time. God has perfect timing. He knows our dreams and aspirations.
He wants us to prosper and live in abundance. He desires to live a life in
communion with us . . . and thus a life much larger than we could possibly imagine
without Him . . . without His love. If we will allow Him, He will go before us
and have all events necessary occurring in perfect order and in perfect timing
. . . if we just believe.
In
todays Gospel (John 6:1-15), Our Lord has the apostles befuddled (again!). He sees a large
crowd approaching in the distance and wants to feed them. Remember, the
apostles were traveling very light at the time. All they have are the tunics on
their backs . . . and the Lord is talking about feeding the mass of people
gathering. Nomadic and befuddled . . . but more important, trustingly, they go
about doing the best they can. In the end, the surplus is gathered. (Read that
again . . . the surplus is gathered):
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
In Anne a lay apostle's book Whispers From the Cross, she provides an excellent visual showing us our need for Christ is at our core:
"It is clear that the more closely connected we become to Christ in us, the more closely we project an accurate communication of our true self. Our true self, created by God, merges into God and we reflect God’s intent. Imagine a pot with one healthy flourishing flower, a hyacinth, for those who like clear imagery. Imagine this flower having the perfect nutrients in the soil, the perfect amount of light and water and the perfect quality of environs, meaning not too hot and not too cold. This is an ideal image, and crossing over a bridge to humanity, unrealistic. But to follow it down, this hyacinth projects a presence that is the ideal plan for a hyacinth bulb in that it has received the best possible circumstances and it has duly flourished. Sometimes, all around a flower bulb can seem ideal and yet some flaw, some biochemical happening, results in a bloom that is half-hearted or in a bulb that never blooms. The promise of a bloom, with the right circumstances, does not always result in what we expect and there is disappointment. But it is too soon to talk about disappointment when we are admiring what appears to be the perfect outcome of the plan for the bulb. Such a scent is given off by this flower! One is hard put to smell this scent and not find his heart transported to a good place. We can say that the fully blooming hyacinth accurately
reflects God’s plan for the bulb."
Lay apostles, He
provides for us beyond our needs . . . in abundance. If we trust Him in good
times and in times appearing grim; if we thank Him at all times; if we have
faith, a childlike faith where we just believe Him no matter what is going on
in our lives at the time, we will have a life of peace. We can live a life of
joy. A life, once again, that we may only have once dreamed.
Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful writer in Jay, and the ability to shine our love for You together.
God bless,
Bonnie and Jay
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